2008 Woodie Awards
Reading into success
complexity important for college students
Paul Mendoza
American College Testing, a nonprofit company now known as ACT, found that reading test scores on its tests are at their lowest point in 12 years.
The study found that only 51 percent of high school students who took the ACT test in 2005 were able to show complex reading abilities, according to a March 1 article on CNN.com. The ACT study was based on the test results of about 1.2 million high school seniors who took the test.
Detailed findings of the study were published in a March 1 report posted on the ACT Newsroom website. ACT, as stated in the report, places blame on the low expectations of high school teachers for many students' lack of skills to read complex material.
"The impact of low expectations is devastating to students," ACT chief executive officer Robert Ferguson said in the report. The ACT's findings were published in another report, "Reading Between the Lines: What the ACT Reveals About College Readiness in Reading." In the 63-page report, the ACT found that high school students' ability to read at a college level is, on average, at its lowest level since 1994. In addition, the report stated that the growing lack of high-level reading skill is costing businesses, colleges and universities, and students $16 billion in lost productivity and other costs.
A suggestion that was presented by the ACT report cited the use of a six-feature plan to improve students' reading skills. The plan, which is called "RSVP" by ACT, defines several features of high school and college texts that, according to the report, "illustrate the six essential features" found in the readings. The features presented in the report include: relationships between ideas, richness of text, text structure, author style, choice of words, and the purpose of the author.
ACT also recommended that high school reading should include more complex materials, based on changes in state standards for academic requirements.
This newfound struggle of high school students may affect their chances of college success, but changes may be seen soon.
